Mistfall

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Prisoners of Fate

And now we're onto the final trilogy in the 'Older Nyssa' arc and it's not a great start. I'm gonna start this by saying I love Full Circle. I think everything from the soundtrack to the Alzarians to the incredible twist is great, it's probably one of my favourite stories from Season 18 so I wasn't necessarily concerned about a sequel like I was with Eldrad Must Die!. Unfortunately this one fails to capture the charm of the original and it's a real shame.

Before I start the complaints I'm going to say that I think the soundtrack here, while subtler than the original, still really manages to evoke the feeling of Full Circle. Also, I appreciate what this story is trying to do in terms of fleshing out the Alzarians and Alzarius as a whole. I especially like that it tried to humanise the Marshmen even if I don't think that idea really worked.

All that is basically all this story has going for it. The sound design is unpleasant and the story is derivative and I have very little more to say than that. Genuinely a disappointment considering Andrew Smith who wrote Full Circle has also written this. Though it gets a bonus for having Jemma Redgrave who I though was superb as Decider Merrion here even if it was tricky not imagining Kate Stewart in her place.

Next Story: Equilibrium

Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#195. Mistfall ~ 1/10

◆ An Introduction

We’ve reached the final trilogy of the “Older Nyssa” arc, and I have to commend the writers and cast for making this a really enjoyable set of adventures. Aside from two major misfires – those being ‘Heroes of Sontar’ and that dire Eldrad sequel – I have had an amazing time.

These final three adventures will see us return to the parallel universe of E-Space, and just like the original trilogy of adventures set there, Andrew Smith is taking us to the planet Alzarius.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Drawn off-course, the TARDIS passes through a CVE into a closed universe – a hugely improbable event with a tragically obvious cause. In order to escape inescapable E-Space, the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are forced to venture in the wilds of planet Alzarius.

But they're not the only unwanted visitors to this strange world. A Starliner has landed, captained by Decider Merrion – but why would Merrion risk rousing the Planet that Slept, and the monsters in its marshes?

Mistfall is coming. The Marshmen are coming. But while Nyssa and Turlough find themselves caught in the open, in the hands of fanatics who model themselves on the legendary Outlers, the Doctor and Tegan discover that the supposedly secure Starliner affords them no protection from monsters both within and without…

◆ The TARDIS Team

It’s a real rarity for me to bundle all the regulars of a story together in one compact section, because it is often a very bad thing. Davison, Fielding, Strickson and Sutton all sound like they would rather be doing anything else, as long as it means they aren’t recording lines for ‘Mistfall’. I really cannot blame them either.

◆ Utter Dross

The prospect of the TARDIS returning to E-Space is extremely exciting, because a different plane of reality means you have a whole different rulebook to play with. It means that the writers can be downright experimental and do something incredibly fresh. Unfortunately, Andrew Smith clearly didn’t think that way when writing this story.

‘Mistfall’ is very similar to ‘Eldrad Must Die!’ - they both claim to be sequels to classic adventures, but actually just feel like an incredibly poor retelling of what we have already seen and heard before. I’m writing this on May 21st 2023, and it’s currently a sweltering hot day outside. I passed up a trip to the beach for fish and chips in favour of relistening to and reviewing this utter dross, so I would forgive you all for assuming I had absolutely no life whatsoever!

◆ Sound Design

I don’t know if there was a malfunction with the microphones at BigFinish when this was being recorded, but they sound like they’re fizzing during some lines (I noticed it a lot with Janet Fielding in particular). Speaking as someone who used to run their own YouTube channel, I know that getting the settings correct on a microphone can be a complete pain in the backside, but this is a professionally made piece of media… or at least, it should be. As for Nigel Fairs sound design in this episode, it’s just very bland and boring.

The interior of the TARDIS warps as it passes through the CVE. Tweeting birds and rustling trees.

◆ Music

Nigel Fairs is also handling the score for ‘Mistfall’, but it genuinely sounds as if he just ripped the soundtrack straight from ‘Full Circle’. Lazy is the keyword of the day people!

◆ Conclusion

“Creatures? You mean the Marsh Men?”

This might just be one of the shortest reviews I have ever written, because this is one of the most lazily written stories I have ever experienced. I’ll openly admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of ‘Full Circle’ in the first place, but this sequel genuinely feels like a complete rehash of what Andrew Smith has already written.

As another reviewer previously put it, this is the bare minimum across the board and it shows every step of the way. Everybody’s performance is as stiff as a wooden beam, the writing is atrocious, the sound design and music are bland and boring. I genuinely do not understand why anyone would want to subject themselves to an hour and a half of this absolute mess.

I can think of a thousand things that are more worthwhile doing than listening to ‘Mistfall’, including boiling my own head whilst attempting to unicycle down the side of Big Ben!